The document outlines 7 steps to establishing thought leadership: 1) understand the space, 2) form an opinion and create content, 3) spread the word via website, blogs and social media, 4) spread the word externally through columns, whitepapers, etc, 5) get people together through communities and events, 6) create an activities calendar, and 7) score your thought leadership efforts against competitors. It emphasizes the importance of being a trusted source of expertise to influence purchasing decisions and discusses tools to demonstrate thought leadership over time.

1. | SOCIAL MEDIA | COMMUNITY | PAY PER CLICK | SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION | EMAIL | AFFILIATES | SYNDICATION | MOBILE | VIDEO | EVENTS & WEBINARS |
7 Steps to Establishing Thought Leadership
Nimish Vohra
REGALIX INC. - US REGALIX - Bangalore REGALIX - Chandigarh REGALIX - New Delhi
2600 EAST BAYSHORE ROAD 2nd FLOOR, ZAM ZAM CENTRE SCO 415, 2nd FLOOR 18 SUNDAR NAGAR
PALO ALTO CA 94303 USA #26, INFANTRY ROAD SECTOR 8 NEW DELHI 110 003 INDIA
BANGALORE 56 001 INDIA PANCHKULA 134 109 INDIA
© 2011 Confidential

2. Speaker – Nimish Vohra
 Decade of experience in Digital
Marketing, Human Factors and
Creative design
 Previously with StarTV (one of the
largest Entertainment and Media
companies) as Program manager for
the R&D and production of next
generation Cable/Satellite Television
programs
 Helped build ChaiTime, a large online
community of NRIs
 Worked as Creative Lead in agencies
 Masters Degree in Industrial Design
from IIT Mumbai and an Engineering
Major
© 2011 Confidential

3. What is Thought Leadership
 Short definition
 Trust you gain for your opinions
 Verbose definition
 “Individuals or Organizations that are recognized by peers, customers &
Industry experts as someone who deeply understands the business they are
in, the needs of the customers, and the broader marketing space they operate
in”
 Keywords
 Change agents
 Innovators
 Opinion leaders
 Trusted source of advice
© 2011 Confidential

4. Why Thought Leadership
Influence in Purchasing decision
Solution
Providers
Contact
them first
31%
Buyer does
the research
and finds the
appropriate
solution
providers
69%
Source: How Customers Choose Solution Providers, North America, Focus Report
© 2011 Confidential

5. Why Thought Leadership
(continued)
Second biggest area of focus for Marketers
30%
20%
10%
0%
Source: Sales and Marketing Industry Study by Go-To-Market Strategies
© 2011 Confidential

6. 7 Steps to Thought Leadership
1. Understand the space you are in
2. Form your opinion. Take a stance. Create content
3. You spread the word: Website, Blogs, Social
4. Let others spread the word: Columns, whitepaper sites, books, Analysts,
PR
5. Get people together: Communities, Awards, Events
6. Create a calendar of activities
7. Score yourself
© 2011 Confidential

7. Step 1: Understand the Space
 Track the landscape you are in:  Understand clearly the business
implications of anything that is
For changes happening in the space (obvious, but
Solution gaps important). Understand the overall
Challenges picture.
New players If you are a technologist in a cable
Etc network –
 understand what role
“Alerts” technology plays in supporting
Blogs the business;
Columns  what percentage of costs are
Influencers allocated towards technology;
Events  understand how cable networks
Etc… make money;
 what are their revenues like?
 what %age is their profit;
 etc…
© 2011 Confidential

8. Step 2: Form an Opinion. Create Content
 Form an opinion, take a stance
 CREATE IDEAS, which will translate into content
 Trends, Future projections, Comparisons, Advice, How-to…
 1Maintain a scratch pad of ideas –personal blog; section on the intranet
 TRANSLATE INTO articles, webinars, diagrams, demos, whitepapers
1
Throughout this webinar
we will talk about QR
Code related examples.
If you were a QR code
specialist, or a business
offering QR code
solutions, you would
have done all that we
have shown here
© 2011 Confidential

9. Step 3: Spread the Word
1
 Website: MESSAGING, articles, demos, whitepapers, Answer-a-Question
 Blogs: On, or off website
 Social: LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook…
Does this look like
a Thought
Leader’s website?
1
Need not look
complicated. But
sophisticated
© 2011 Confidential

10. Step 3: Spread the Word
(continued)
1 2
 Website: MESSAGING, articles, demos, whitepapers, Answer-the-Expert
 Blogs: On or off website
 Social: LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook…
2
1
© 2011 Confidential

11. Step 3: Spread the Word
(continued)
 Website: MESSAGING, articles, demos, whitepapers, Answer-a-
Question
2
 Blogs: On or off website 1
 Social: LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook…
1
2
© 2011 Confidential

12. Step 4: Spread the Word on External Sites
1 2
 Columns in magazines, newspapers; Author books
 Whitepaper on external sites
 Cultivate Analysts, PR
2
1
© 2011 Confidential

13. Step 4: Spread the Word on External Sites
(continued)
 Columns in magazines, newspapers; Author books
 Whitepaper on external sites
1
 Cultivate Analysts, PR
1
© 2011 Confidential

14. Step 5: Get People Together: Communities
1
 Communities: Social, Custom
 Gets like minded people together; Now, easier to spread the
messages
 Events, Awards, Surveys: Participate, Create your own
1 1
© 2011 Confidential

15. Step 5: Get People Together: Communities
(continued)
 Communities: Social, Custom
 Gets like minded people together; Now, easier to spread the
1 messages 2
 Events, Awards, Surveys: Participate, Create your own
2 1
© 2011 Confidential

16. Step 6: Create A Calendar of Activities
M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10 M11 M12 Total
Sources 5 5 7 8 10 10 11 56
Researched
Personal Blog 4 6 6 7 4 8 5 40
Stories (Notes)
Community 2 1 1 2 1 3 1 11
memberships
Communities 1 1 1 3
Created (LI, FB,
Custom, etc)
Participation 5 11 18 16 19 24 17 110
(questions answered,
links posted…)
Whitepapers, 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 10
Columns, books,
etc
Event speaker, 1 2 1 1 5
creator, Awards
© 2011 Confidential

17. Step 7: Scoring Model
Self Weight Self Competiti Competiti Competiti Competiti
Activity Score on 1 on 2 on 3 on 4
Total*
Sources Researched 56 0
Personal Blog Stories 40 5 200 300 100 80
(Notes)
Community 11 1 11 8 12 6 3
memberships
Communities Created 3 10 30 50
(LI, FB, Custom, etc)
Participation (questions 110 2 220 22 146 84
answered, links posted…)
Whitepapers, 10 20 200 240 120 320 60
Columns, books, etc
Events 5 30 150 120 90 30 240
speaker/creator,
Awards
Total 811 690 418 540 383
*From previous slide
© 2011 Confidential

18. 7 Steps to Thought Leadership
1. Understand the space you are in
2. Form your opinion. Take a stance. Create content
3. You spread the word: Website, Blogs, Social
4. Let others spread the word: Columns, whitepaper sites, books, Analysts,
PR
5. Get people together: Communities, Awards, Events
6. Create a calendar of activities
7. Score yourself
Parting Tips
• Do not under-invest
• Be honest about your efforts
• It is not a short term effort
• “Thought leadership can reduce
your cost of sale to less than half”
© 2011 Confidential

19. About Regalix
 Forefront of Online Marketing, Social Media, Communities, Lead Generation
 Multi-disciplinary Leadership Team
 Fortune 500 and Venture-Backed Customers (B2B and B2C)
 Global Operations: HQ in Silicon Valley, 4 Offices
 150+ Team, Built on 8+ years of research
 Recognition
© 2011 Confidential

20. Questions?
 Visit: www.regalix.com
 For a free evaluation of your Thought Leadership Marketing plan,
please get in touch with Ritu Josan @ rjosan@regalix-inc.com
 If you have any questions about Thought Leadership, social media,
search marketing, etc please feel free to get in touch with the speaker
Nimish Vohra @ nvohra@regalix-inc.com
© 2011 Confidential